Metal fabricating machines occupy a significant role in modern industry and include, for example, machines which stamp, roll, form, cut and extrude metal, to name a few. One such type of a machine, and a type to which the present invention is directed, receives an elongated strip of metal at an entryway, advances the strip of metal progressively through the machine and against the laterally positioned forming elements to configure the longitudinal margins of the strip into desired useful cross-sections after which the strip is discharged at an exit location. The metal strips fed into such a machine may either be discreet lengths of metal or, as is more typically the case, a continuous feed is provided from a coil, and the formed strip is cut into usable lengths at the exit location. Specific examples of such machines for which the present invention is particularly useful include gutter, roof panel and siding panel forming machines.
Existing panel forming machines have a framework structure which houses a drive system for advancing the strip of metal therethrough and machined forming elements are disposed to configure the longitudinal margins of the strip. Normally in these machines, the profile forming elements are each independently mounted to the framework at selected locations so that the longitudinal margin of the strip is progressively bent into a desired profile. While these existing machines are quite useful and effective in fabricating metal strips into panels and gutters, each machine typically can only form a single profile so that a fabricator must acquire a separate machine for each profile desired to be configured. Alternately, the entire set of forming elements may be replaced by individually detaching each forming element; thus, it is possible to produce a different profile. Naturally, this procedure is very time consuming and costly to the fabricator. Since a variety of different profiles are desired by various purchasers, interchanging the elements on an individual basis is not suitable so that the fabricator again reverts to the purchase of a variety of machines.
Even where individual forming elements are replaced, the fabricator still is constrained to produce panels of a set width since the forming elements are each attached to discrete positions. Thus, where a fabricator wishes to manufacturer custom widths, or a variety of standard widths, additional machines must be acquired or extensive modifications must be made to an existing machine. Neither of these solutions is desirable from the fabricator's standpoint both for monetary costs and time considerations.
Accordingly, prior to the present invention, there was an unresolved need for improvements to metal fabricating machines of a type to form profiles and strips of materials. One area of need was to have a more universal machine which could replace a variety of other machines each specially designed to create a specific profile in a metal strip. Another need was to provide fabricators the ability to change panel widths having desired longitudinal edge profiles with a minimum effort and down time for the forming machine. There was a further need for a metal forming machine that was enhanced in this versatility without adding inordinately to the capital cost of the machine.